


Baking a mess

by Fandomnerdiness (joshifine7)



Series: A Little Family [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Baking, Diapers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Dynamics, Gen, High Chair, Infantilism, Little!Sam, Non-Sexual Age Play, Pacifiers, Time Out, baby!dean - Freeform, daddy!Gabriel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-18
Updated: 2016-08-18
Packaged: 2018-08-09 10:51:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7798912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joshifine7/pseuds/Fandomnerdiness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gabriel thinks that he will have a nice afternoon of baking with the boys while his brother is away. The boys have some trouble listening to him however and he needs to get stern.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baking a mess

**Author's Note:**

  * For [too many stars to count (imagined_away)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/imagined_away/gifts).



> Hi! This is a prompt from Too Many Stars To Count (imagined away).  
> Here's the prompt: 
> 
> I'd be interested in seeing a day when Sammy and Dean are having trouble listening to their daddies. I imagine that even when the boys act naughty their daddies are always caring and gentle, if firm. I think that would have been a big adjustment for the boys after being raised by John. Especially for Dean who has so much trouble believing he deserves gentleness
> 
> I hope that I did it justice. I have to admit that I struggled with this one, it didn't come as easily to me as the others did. Still. It turned out longer than I thought it would.
> 
> Additional notes:  
> * Note1: Dean ages to somewhere between 1-2years old, and Sam ages to about 4/5years old.  
> * Note 2: Set into the universe as my other fics, whereby Cas, Dean, Sammy and Gabe have an established age play relationship and a safe deliberately safe house to play in. Gabe is Sam's Daddy, Cas is Dean's Daddy, though Cas isn't in this fic. I think you could read this as a stand alone, though the other fics might help as background.

Manic giggles spread through the kitchen and around the house as two little boys and one angel attempted to make cupcakes. Bowls, spoons and trays littered the counters where Sammy and De had been a little too enthusiastic about pulling equipment out of the cupboard, and every ingredient imaginable was dotted about between them. Why they would need the ketchup out to make cupcakes, Gabe would never know. 

The archangel had thought it would be a nice, calm afternoon activity to enjoy with his son and nephew while his younger brother was out, but he was swiftly being proven wrong.  
Sammy, who had been his usual happy self all morning had seemingly gotten over excited at the idea of cupcakes and baking. He was pretty much vibrating as he worked his way around the kitchen, touching what seemed like anything he could possibly touch. 

De, who had woken up from his nap in a good mood had hummed and gurgled all the way through his change and had seemed equally excited about doing some cooking. The baby had been quite happily toddling around after his brother, desperate to be included in the fun. 

The kitchen looked like disaster had struck and the cupcakes weren't even in the oven yet. Gabriel, who found a sense of peace and calm in the room and who liked to cook for his family to de-stress was finding himself increasingly frazzled from having his space turn into what looked like a war zone, as well as having to keep little fingers out of things they shouldn't be in. 

"Sammy? Could you stop touching that please?" Gabriel called, from where he was attempting to guide a squirmy Dean away from the oven that he had put on to pre-heat. 

"'Kay Daddy!" Sammy called back, not actually taking his hand off of the packet of flour he was peering into. 

"Seriously buddy. Listen to Daddy and put that packet back on the counter" Gabriel appealed before telling the baby "No De. You can't touch the oven. I know you do when you are Big, but right now it is dangerous. You need to come over here now please."

"Yeah! C'mon De! Come here!" Sammy shouted, beckoning his brother closer, and inadvertently wafting a cloud of flour into the air and all over the counters. 

"Sammy! Now look! I thought I told you to stop touching that" Gabe scolded, letting go if De in order to right the bag that was steadily pouring its contents all over the floor. 

"But I was just lookin' Daddy!" Sammy pouted, put out at having his bag taken away. 

"Daddy asked you to stop Sammy. Look at all the mess there is now" Gabriel commented, turning around and looking alarmed at the lack of baby standing behind him. At Sammy's giggle however, he whirled back around and swiftly located Dean, who in the two seconds that Gabe had been talking to his son, had decided to drop to the floor and crawl over to the small pile of flour that had landed on the floor and was now using it to draw with. Dean's index finger swirled through the powder, making patterns and spreading mess everywhere. 

"Dean!" Gabriel gasped, the bent down to scoop Dean up and to plant him back on his feet before beginning to pat the flour off of where it was covering the boy's dungaree covered legs. "Don't do that honey. It's dirty."

De whined a protest as he was patted down and pointed to his swirly pattern adding "Drawin'!"

"No. It's dirty baby. No drawing with the flour" Gabriel said firmly as he finished dusting down his nephew. He knew that he kept the kitchen floor pretty clean, but he didn't really want De to be sticking his fingers in the flour on the floor any more than necessary. 

Ignoring the rather cute pout he gained in response, and keeping hold of the boy lest he start to toddle off again, Gabriel called to Sammy who - thankfully - was still nearby giggling at his little brother. Deciding to try and get some sort of control while both boys were in reaching distance, he asked "Now. Who is going to help me actually make some cakes instead of making more mess?"

"Yeah I want to Daddy!"

"De do it!"

Leading both of the boys over to the kitchen table where he had separated out the little equipment that he would actually need, Gabriel began to talk them through the steps of weighing out the ingredients and mixing them together. Sammy got to watch the scales and tell them when the right amount of flour, sugar and butter had been weighed out and had turns shaking the offered ingredients out. De also had turns shaking out ingredients, but Gabriel helped him to steady the bags each time. 

All the way through, Gabriel offered encouragement and support.

"Well done Sammy, that is the perfect amount! Can you put it into the big bowl for me?"

"That's it De! Nice and gently shake out some sugar. A little bit more! There! You did it!"

Now, came the time for eggs to be added to the dry mix before they used the electrical whisk. "Alright boys. I'm going to need some big boy helpers now. Please don't touch the whisk without me helping you. Can you do that?" Sammy and De straightened up, pleased to be given important tasks. Gaining two serious nods from the boys, Gabriel continued, "Great. But before we get to that, I have a very important job. We need to put in the eggs. Sammy, you are going to break the eggs, but De, do you think that you can hold them and keep them safe for me?"

Seeing his uncle Gabe be very serious, De stopped his wiggling and stood very still and said seriously "Yeah!". He could do important jobs! Solemnly, he held out his hands to cradle the two eggs that his uncle Gabe gave to him. He would be the bestest egg holder ever! De could do this!

Gabriel, seeing that De was now occupied, turned his attention back to Sammy and helped guide his hands to crack the first of the three eggs they needed. "Ok now Sammy. We need to tap the egg on the side, gently but firmly until it cracks a little bit…that’s it… and now we need to pull it apart."

"I can do it Daddy!" Sammy protested, wanting to do it all himself. He was a very big boy! he could do the eggs all by himself. 

"Slow down buddy, there's no rush" Gabriel commented as he tried to help his son with prising the egg shell apart. 

"I can do it!" Sammy protested again irritated at his Daddy's caution, and trying to do it all on his own he pulled the shell apart a lot more forcefully than was needed, causing it to crumble in his fingers and lots of little bits of shell to fall into the waiting mix. Suddenly losing his irritated attitude, Sammy peered curiously into the bowl and then peered into his Daddy's face offering a sheepish "Oops".

Sighing deeply Gabriel began to take the rest of the egg mess out of his son's hands saying with a slightly exasperated voice "That's why I said be careful buddy. Calm down and it won't happen again. But don't worry too much, Daddy'll go and get a spoon to get the shell out. Wait right here please."

Giving a look to the baby who was giving all his attention to holding the other eggs carefully in his cupped hands and seeing that he was adequately occupied, Gabriel moved to the other side of the kitchen to gather a small spoon and some wipes to clean his son's hands off. 

As Sammy watched his Daddy move off, he had an idea. Although he was sad that the egg broke and that the shell went into the cake, Sammy was sure that he could actually crack the egg without it breaking up. It probably only did it this time 'coz Daddy wouldn't move his hands away. Sammy would show Daddy that he could do it by himself. Then Daddy would be so proud! Yeah that was an awesome plan. 

Moving over to his brother, who was holding onto the other two eggs, Sammy reached out a hand to take one of them saying "Can I have one of the eggs please De? I need it now."

De, looking up at Sammy, moved his hands away from where his brother was reaching attempting to shield his precious cargo. "No!" he protested. Uncle Gabe said to look after them, and that's what De was going to do until Uncle Gabe came back. 

"De!" Sammy exclaimed, once again reaching for the eggs, "I need it! I need the egg to put in the cake now. Please De!"

"No!" De said once again twisting away, "Mine!"

"I need it!" Sammy whined and tried to snatch it out of his brother's hands again. He was getting increasingly annoyed now. Why wouldn't De just give him the egg? Couldn't De see that it was important? As he snatched for the eggs again, he managed to get hold of De's hand and was working on prying one of the eggs out from where his brother was clutching it. 

De whined quietly and tried to keep Sammy from getting one of his eggs. Both brother's were unconsciously being quiet, not wanting the adult in the room to be aware of what was happening - but for different reasons. De didn't want uncle Gabe to know that he might not be doing quite so good of a job, and Sammy wanted to get the egg and put it in the cake for a surprise. 

The brother's tussled quickly and almost silently, but then, the inevitable happened and one of the eggs fell and tumbled down onto the floor where it smashed apart.  
Stunned momentarily, De and Sammy froze for a second as everything was still. Sammy had gotten hold of the one remaining egg, but it lay forgotten in his hand as he watched the insides of the smashed egg spread out onto the floor. 

Reality came crashing back down a second later and Sammy watched as De's face crumpled and his baby brother began to wail loudly. 

"What's going on here?" came a stern voice from beside Sammy and he looked around to see that his Daddy had made his way over to them and was taking in the scene before him. Sammy didn't have a chance to reply before his Daddy was putting down the items he had gathered and was lifting De up and onto his hip where he began patting his back to calm the sobbing boy down. 

"Oh De. It's ok sweetheart. It's ok. Calm down baby" Gabriel crooned as he began swaying with De in his arms. Although slightly irritated that he couldn't leave the boys alone for two minutes, Gabe tried to be calm enough to get Dean to stop crying. If he was worked up, the baby would be worked up too. 

As De cried in his uncle's arms, he pointed down to the broken egg and sobbed "Broke! Mine! Broke! Sorry! Sorry!" De was so upset as he looked down at the mess of egg on the floor. It was his job to look after the eggs and now it was ruined! De couldn't do it right and now everything was ruined!

Gabriel's heart melted a bit at the fact that De was getting so upset over an egg breaking. "Oh baby. It's ok. Don't worry sweetheart. I know its broken, but it doesn't matter baby. It's just an accident honey, don't worry baby."

Gabriel was keeping a close eye on his son while he worked at calming De down, and he seemed to be looking guiltily at the crying baby. Gabriel also made note of the last remaining egg that was clutched in his little boy's hand and made sure that Sammy saw as he raised an eyebrow. 

As De calmed down and cuddled himself closer to his uncle, slipping a few fingers into his mouth to suckle as he did so, Gabriel continued to pat a calming rhythm on the baby's back and asked both boys "Who wants to tell me what happened?"

"De dropped it Daddy" Sammy said at the same time that Dean mournfully mumbled "Egg broken".

Kissing the baby on the forehead Gabriel cooed "I know baby. It's ok.", then he turned back to Sammy and asked seriously "Is that all that happened Sammy? Why do you have an egg?"

Blushing furiously as he was being found out Sammy tried to persevere with his story. "De dropped it Daddy. I took one though to hold it."

Raising his eyebrow sceptically again, Gabriel asked De "Is that what happened baby?"

De shook his head and (thinking he was being explicitly clear and that he was explaining everything) said "De's egg. Not Sammy's!"

Dean's short explanation did clarify what Gabriel had been thinking though and he again spoke to Sammy asking "Did you try to take the egg from De Sammy?"

Knowing that he would just get into trouble if he kept trying to mislead his Daddy, Sammy just hung his head and said "Yes Daddy. I tried to take it from De but he wouldn't give it to me. I needed it though!" he added pleadingly as he finished, trying to get some sympathy from his Daddy. Couldn't Daddy see that it wasn't really his fault that this had happened? If De had just given him the egg then there wouldn't have been any problems. 

Placing De down now that he was calm, Gabriel responded sternly to his son "You know we don't take things from others Sammy. That was not nice. Especially when you know that Daddy had asked De to take care of the eggs. Anyway, why did you need to take an egg from your brother? I think Daddy asked you to stay where you were didn't he?"

"Yes Daddy" Sammy pouted, looking down sadly at his shoes so that he wouldn't have to meet the stern angel's gaze. "I wanted one to show you I can do it myself! I wanted to surprise you Daddy!"

Softening slightly, but making sure to keep his voice stern Gabriel replied "While that was a nice thought Sammy, Daddy asked you to do something and you didn't do it. And wanting to surprise Daddy doesn't justify trying to take something off of your brother does it?"

"No Daddy" Sammy said sadly. 

"Exactly. Now. I'm not very happy, but I think if you help Daddy to clean up, we can forget that this happened and move on. But I do not want any more of this behaviour do you understand? You need to listen to Daddy please. I also think you need to say sorry to your little brother. He was very upset that the egg got broken."

"Ok Daddy. Sorry De. Sorry Daddy" Sammy replied sadly, still looking down and studying his feet. 

"Ok then. Now give Daddy a hug, then we can clean up" Gabriel said, lightening his tone as he drew his boy in for a hug. 

Taking a moment to enjoy the closeness with his boy, Gabriel then pulled back to look around for De. What he found both made him simultaneously want to coo at the adorable sight and made his heart sink. For what he found was that during his small talk with Sammy, Dean had dropped down onto the floor and was now sitting splay legged and attempting to pick up pieces of the smashed egg. He was looking absolutely confused at why the runny substance was oozing through his fingers. the baby just kept trying to scoop up the sticky liquid, inadvertently making more of a mess in the process. 

Chuckling, Gabriel squatted down and softly called out to his nephew "What are you up to baby boy?"

"De cleanin'" came the reply, but then De looked up into his uncle's face, appealing for information. "Not workin'?" he asked. 

Rubbing a hand over the little one's hair Gabriel made a sympathetic sound and agreed. "No, it's not working baby. Why don't you let me clean it up now? Ta for helping though."

Dean nodded at his uncle's words and then held his hands out for the archangel to see. "Ick!"

"Yeah, that's very icky baby. Let's get you all clean again huh?" With that, Gabriel asked his son to pass him the wet wipes that he had gone to collect earlier and began to clean up the baby and the floor. He went to clean his son's hands as well, but it appeared that Sammy had already taken care of that problem. 

Floor and children clean, Gabriel tried to redirect the day's activities back to baking. "Come on then boys. Let's go get those cakes ready. Sammy, will you go get another egg from the fridge for me please?"

Pleased to have been given a task, Sammy quickly went over to retrieve the required item. Gabriel drew De close and showed him how to take the pieces of shell out of the waiting cake mix. 

As Sammy returned with the egg, Gabriel once again gave the boys their tasks and this time the eggs made the mixture without any shell accompanying it. 

"Right then boys, here comes the fun part! Let's get whisking!" Gabriel cheered, causing the boys to join in.

Gabriel noticed that De's attention had been drifting and that the baby had been beginning to smack his lips more frequently - meaning that he was close to putting things in his mouth. Pulling a pacifier out of his pocket, Gabriel offered it to De and said "You first De. Come here baby", drawing him closer to the bowl and letting him grip hold of the electric whisk. Holding it still with his own hands Gabriel asked "Ready sweetheart?" and after gaining a nod, flipped the switch and allowed the machine to whirr to life. As Gabe guided Dean's movements he heard De humming in delight as he watched the mixture begin to come together. 

Gabriel allowed himself the pleasure of watching the happy smile dance over Dean's face as the boy got to help make the cake. The boy was so happy and content - it was amazing that it was something so simple that could cause this effect in the boy. 

Soon however, he lowered the speed until the whisk came to a stop. "Sammy's turn now De" Gabriel chimed as he took the whisk out of his nephew's hand. As Sammy took hold of the whisk, Gabriel allowed De to move away and watched where the boy's attention was drifting off to. A pile of pans that were scattered innoculously across the floor by an open cabinet. All of them had been pulled out during the raid for equipment earlier. "You want to go play baby?" Gabriel asked kindly.

"Yeah! Play!" De cheered as he pointed to the items Gabriel had identified. 

"Ok honey. Off you go. But stay away from the oven please?" 

Gaining a nod, Gabe pushed De towards the pans with a soft pat on the diapered bottom and then after checking that the boy was settled, turned his attention back towards his own son and began the process of assisting with the whisk again. 

As opposed to De's gentle humming, Sammy fairly bounced with pleasure - whole body shaking and jiggling as he struggled to contain his excitement. It was one of the things Gabriel loved about Sammy the most - the fact that he was so very expressive in his emotions - especially when he let them be as free as he did when he was being little. 

As the buzzing whirr of the whisk died down for the second time, Gabriel became aware of a new sound in the kitchen. Looking over to the source of the noise, Gabriel couldn't help but laugh as he saw De rhythmically banging on some of the pots. between the clanging noises, De's voice could just be heard humming or mumbling words. 

"Lovely singing De!" Gabe called, causing the baby to giggle and start to bang a little faster and harder. "You want to come help us put the mixture in the cases De?" he offered.  
"No ta" De called between bangs, completely happy with his new activity. He was being a rock star! In his mind, he was clearly playing some of the best Led Zepplin songs, though to anyone else that may have been less clear.

"Ok then baby. Come over if you want to though ok?" Gabriel called, then turned his attention once again to his own boy. "What colour cake cases do you want Sammy?"

"I gotted out the blue and green and red and yellow ones Daddy!" Sammy bounced happily as he raced to collect them, then shoved them into his Daddy's hands. 

The father and son pair started to lay out the cases on the tray and Gabriel explained the next steps. 

However Sammy interrupted by wrinkling his nose up and saying "De's really loud isn't he Daddy?"

The banging had picked up a bit, but Gabriel dismissed the concerns for the moment saying "Yes, but he's having fun buddy." He did however call out "Beautiful De, but could you play a little bit quieter honey?" The banging lessened a little in intensity, but De's mumble singing could be heard a bit better now. 

"There. That's better. Let's start to get this mix into the cases then" Gabriel said as he turned back to Sammy and explained how they were going to use the spoons to scrap the mix into the cases. He had to admit that he could find himself thinking better now the sound had dimmed. This had been a little more stressful than he had anticipated and his nerves were on edge, but he was still enjoying himself. Taking a deep breath as both boys were happy and safe he focused on his activity with Sammy. 

Sammy started out dolling the cake batter into the cases very carefully, but as he gained in confidence he started to get quicker and sloppier with his spoons causing mix to go everywhere. 

"Slow down Sammy please. There's no rush" Gabriel cautioned and tried to direct his son's attention to his own spoon to show him how to do it slowly and with less mess. 

Sammy did do as directed for a moment, but then found himself getting faster and messier again. Cake mix was spilling all over the cases and the baking tray, it was covering Sammy and the counter. 

Over the other side of the kitchen, De was picking up his banging again. He had moved on to AC/DC and that required loud drums! He was having an awesome time and was grinning widely around his pacifier.

Gabriel felt frazzled again. "De, a little bit quieter sweetheart? Sammy please? Just slow down. Try like I showed you ok? You're making a big mess little man."

He had to keep repeating himself, but it didn't appear to be making much difference except to give him an increasing headache. Who knew that two small boys could cause so much chaos?  
"Sammy seriously. Listen to Daddy. Calm down and watch what you're doing."

"De please, try to be a bit quieter please. Uncle Gabe's getting a headache honey."

Finally however, the cupcake mix was filling the cases and it was time for Gabriel to put them into the oven. "Stay here please Sammy. I don't want you near the hot oven ok buddy."

Gabriel balanced the tray of unbaked cakes in his hand as he walked over to the hot oven. Just at the moment he opened the door however, De gave an almighty crash on his pots and pans, and accompanied his noise with a loud shout as he came to the climax of a song. 

Startled by the sudden increase in noise, Gabriel jumped and nearly lost his hold on the balanced tray, but luckily, just at the last moment, he managed to right it and keep a firm grip on the hard worked for treats. His heart was hammering though at the near miss, and he ended up snapping at the happily playing baby. "Dean! Quietly!" He complimented his shout with a slam of the oven door. 

Gabriel watched, horrified at himself as he saw De freeze and drop his wooden spoons onto the floor with a clatter. He was about to go over and scoop up the baby to apologise, but he was instantly distracted by a loud whirr and the feel of something splattering all over him. 

Whirling around, Gabriel came face to face with a shocked looking Sammy who was standing by the counter, holding aloft the electric whisk that he had evidently turned on. It was turned on and currently splattering cake batter over every inch of the kitchen as Sammy fumbled to flick the switch back off. 

As the sound of the whisk died down, silence settled across the kitchen for just a beat as everyone tried to absorb the shock of the last few seconds. 

Wiping cake batter off of his face, Gabriel glanced around to see that cake splatter covered the floor, walls, ceiling and table and of course nearly all of Sammy. Gabe was fairly covered himself, though thankfully he seemed to have shielded De from the worst of the splatter. 

"Sammy!" Gabriel barked as he strode over and plucked the whisk from his son's hands. "Daddy told you not to touch this! Look at the mess!"

"S-sorry Daddy" Sammy stumbled, shocked, both by the amount of mess he had made and at his Daddy's cross voice. That didn't come out very much, but it was always surprising when it did. 

"This has happened lots of times today Sammy. Daddy has told or asked you not to do something and you haven't listened. You need to listen to Daddy when he tells you something Sammy! Do you understand?" Gabriel made sure that he wasn't shouting, but he made sure that the fact he was not happy came across loud and clear through his stern and displeased tone of voice. 

Sammy stood stone still and his lip wobbled as he gave all of his attention to his Daddy. He was sorry that he made a big mess. He had just wanted to see how the machine worked is all. He didn't expect it to get cake everywhere. He remembered Daddy telling him not to touch the whisk, but he was just so curious. Raising his eyes to flick quickly around the room he winced at the mess that covered everything, but then quickly settled his eyes back on his Daddy. 

Gabriel regarded the contrite looking boy before him, but knew that just giving out to him would not be enough. Sammy needed to learn to listen. "Into the corner Sammy. You need some time out to think about what you have done." He grabbed Sammy's arm to gently guide the boy into the corner of the kitchen. It would do them both some good. He needed some time to calm himself down, and Sammy did need to think about how to listen better to his Daddy. 

Whereas he had been standing listening to his Daddy talk to him, the guided movement sparked something in Sammy and he flared to life. He began to pull away from where his Daddy had hold of his arm and tried to get away. 

"Noo! No! I don't want to go in the corner! No! I don’t need it!"

"Yes Sammy. It's corner time. You need think about how to listen to Daddy, and it seems like you need time to calm down as well."

"No Daddy! I don't want to! No!"

Having made it to the corner, Sammy's struggles not really impacting him much other than making him that much more annoyed. Placing Sammy decisively in the corner, and keeping a hold on the still struggling boy, Gabriel firmly said "Sammy. Stop it. Right now young man."

Sammy froze once again at his Daddy's tone and stopped his trying to get away. 

"Good. Thank you. Now. You are going to stay in this corner for five minutes. You are here because you kept not listening to Daddy and that meant that you made a big mess. I want you to think about what you should have been doing instead. I love you buddy and I will be back in five minutes. Face the corner please."

As soon as Gabriel had started explaining why he was being put in the corner, Sammy started to sniffle and tears gathered into his eyes. Gabriel steeled himself as Sammy turned himself to face the corner, wanting to gather his boy up into his arms, but knowing that he needed to be firm. Turning away he called back "Five minutes Sammy" and then made his way into the centre of the room. He stood for just a moment to allow himself to take a deep breath and calm down. 

Opening his eyes from where they had squeezed shut, Gabriel looked around the room to see if he could detect it's youngest occupant. It had been quiet. Far too quiet in the last few minutes while he dealt with Sammy. Where was the baby?

While Uncle Gabe had been sorting out Sammy, De had been completely freaking out. One moment he had been happily playing rock star, singing along to AC/DC, and the next Uncle Gabe was shouting at him to be quiet! 

Instantly, De was frozen in his mind as many images of Big Dean's life flashed at him. Moments of the John Dad shouting at Dean because he was making too much noise while he was trying to research. Shouting at Dean because Dean had let Sammy run around and be too noisy. John would shout why was Dean so useless? Couldn't he keep his little brother quiet for twenty minutes? Why was Dean so goddamn loud all the time? Why was Dean so useless?

As these images assaulted De's mind, he found himself hyperventilating slightly. His pacifier was being worked frantically and tears began to stream down his face, but no sound escaped his lips. 

Uncle Gabe was mad at him? De was being too loud? De was making things bad? All these thoughts flitted through De's confused mind as his little self struggled with the feelings he couldn't quite process. All he knew was that he was bad 'coz he was too loud. The John Dad and Uncle Gabe had said so right? He needed to get out of the way so that he didn't annoy anyone any more. That would probably be for the best. 

So, De found himself crawling away from the confusion of pots and pans and settling himself under the kitchen table. He needed to go away, but at the same time he didn't want to be too far away from his family. He needed them! So, after he had made his way under the table, De huddled into himself and allowed his tears to fall silently. Would Daddy be home soon? De wanted Daddy! But would Daddy think De was too loud too? He just didn't know. He let himself be swept away with his emotions. 

Gabriel meanwhile was panicking. Where on earth was De? The baby couldn't have gone far, he hadn’t been dealing with Sammy for that long. And besides, De never liked to be by himself for too long so it was unlikely that he had gone far. But still, the absence of his nephew was worrying him. 

"De? Dean? Where are you baby? Where are you De? Come out sweetheart?" he called. He ventured out slightly into the family room, and then backtracked to see into the hallway - both of which yielded no baby. His anxiety was just about to take a huge leap when he picked up the faintest of sounds. 

Only just able to be heard was the faintest of whimpers. Quickly locating the source of the noise he narrowed in on the table - which still did not reveal his nephew. Racing over and kneeling down to peer underneath. While relief flooded through him at finally locating the little one, his heart shattered a little bit at the sight before him. 

Huddled in a small ball was the silently crying form of a miserable and distressed baby. 

Gentling and quieting his tone deliberately Gabriel breathed "Hi there baby boy. What you doing under there huh?"

Although no sound could be heard, Gabriel saw De's breath shudder and hitch as bright watery eyes flicked up to meet his. In the depth of his eyes a deep sadness and fear could be found, but slightly more prominent was the appeal for someone to come and make things better. 

Reaching down under the table, Gabriel gently grabbed under the baby's armpits and slowly and carefully dragged him out from under the table and into his arms - ignoring the slight flinch he gained from the boy as he did so. 

Sat on the dirty kitchen floor, Gabriel cradled the tearful baby in his arms and began to sooth. "Baby boy, it's ok. Don't cry sweetheart. It's ok baby. You're ok."

De allowed himself to be cuddled and settled into his uncle's embrace. He really wanted the comfort, but was really confused. Wasn't Uncle Gabe cross with De? He didn't know what to do! He decided to just keep quiet as that seemed like the safest option. He couldn't make anything else go wrong if he was quiet. 

Gabriel kept patting and cooing to the baby, watching as tears slowly dried up and the tense body relaxed in his lap. His nephew still seemed to have an air of sadness, but he had stopped crying at least. "Hey sweet baby. You ok now? What set that off hey?" he crooned to the baby resting in his arms. Gaining no answer but a small suck of the boy's pacifier he continued "Were you scared sweetheart? Were you hiding?" 

With all that had happened, Gabriel wasn't sure what it was that had caused this upset in the baby. It could have been any number of things, but Gabriel guessed it was most likely the tense atmosphere in the kitchen. De was a sensitive little soul and things could upset him easily. Especially given that he had very little resistance to his emotions in his baby headspace. 

Still, not gaining an answer, Gabriel just continued to talk to the baby and rock him gently in his arms. "It's all ok baby. No need to be worried or scared. Everything is ok and no one is cross anymore. Don't worry baby boy. Everything is fine."

De wasn't sure about this, but just decided to stick to his plan of being quiet. He knew from Big Dean's memories that even when someone said something was over, it didn't always mean that that was the case. Best to be extra good and quiet just in case. 

Seeing that the baby was at least calm for now, and needing to get back to Sammy, Gabriel tried to move things on. "Alright then baby. I need to go and get Sammy now. How about we get you a drink and put you somewhere clean, then I can go sort out your brother. Does that sound good?"

At De's very hesitant nod, Gabriel climbed to his feet and placed the baby on his hip. Gathering a cool bottle of juice from the fridge, he then looked for somewhere relatively clean to put De down. 

Unfortunately, there was only one place that he could think of that would keep De safe and close, but clean. 

The highchair. 

Not wanting an upset, but deciding to give it a go Gabriel said "De? I'm going to put you in your chair ok? It's all clean baby!"

De wasn't overly pleased at being put in the highchair, but there was no way he was going to make a fuss. To stop himself, he spat out his pacifier and stuck the nipple of the bottle he had been handed into his mouth and began to suckle. It kept him busy and focused so he wouldn't fuss. 

Surprisingly, Gabriel was able to sit De down and strap him into his highchair with no fuss. He wasn't about to comment on the good fortune however and kissed the top of the baby's head before adding "Thank you baby. Now. You enjoy your nice drink, and I'll go and get Sammy. I'll be right over there ok?" Getting a very small nod from the drinking boy, Gabriel moved away to collect his son from the time out corner. 

As Gabriel moved away from the highchair, he huffed a large sigh. He was getting no break today. One crisis to the next. He was not looking forward to getting Sammy - he hated having to be stern with his son. On the way over to the other side of the kitchen, he stopped for a moment to pull the now cooked cupcakes from the oven and quickly settled them on the side. 

"Sammy?" he asked as he approached the boy, "Are you ready to come out now?"

Sammy, who had been thinking very hard during his time in the corner did not turn around to greet his Daddy and instead stayed facing the wall in front of him.  
When he had been placed into the corner, he had been sniffling and a few tears had leaked down his face. He was upset that his Daddy had been telling him off and was embarrassed to have been put into the "naughty" corner. 

Unconsciously, Sammy was also being effected by past events in his life and his interactions with John. Much of the conflict that Big Sam had with John was that the man had refused to trust Sam for the longest time and never believed that he could do many of the things that Dean could do - just because he didn't have the same interest in the tasks that his older brother had. 

To be told by Gabriel that he shouldn't do something - that Sammy was only curious about - made an old reaction rise up in the boy. He was annoyed that Daddy was telling him off. Sammy didn't mean for the mess to happen! And he had already apologised! He didn't deserve to be in the corner! So now, he wasn't coming out. Daddy could just see how upset Sammy was with him right now. Daddy was being so unfair!

He felt hands grasping his shoulders and gently turning him around. Sammy could feel himself pouting as he faced his Daddy again. 

"Sammy? Did you think about what I said when I put you in time out buddy?" Gabriel asked again.

"Yeah" Sammy replied sullenly.

"Well? What do you have to say Sammy?"

"I shouldn't be in the naughty corner Daddy" Sammy protested sullenly, folding his arms across his chest. 

"Oh?" Gabriel asked calmly, "And why is that?"

"'Coz! It's not my fault! I didn't mean for the mess to happen! And I was just lookin' at it Daddy! Don't need to be punished" he hurriedly explained and finished with a huff. 

"Is that right? Then how did the mess get to be all over the kitchen then Sammy?" Gabriel challenged calmly. 

"Well..." Sammy drew out, thinking carefully, "It went all over 'coz I touched the thingy. But I didn't know that it was gonna happen!"

"I see. But don’t you think that Daddy did know that it would happen? And that's why he might have told you not to touch the whisk?"

Sammy faltered at that. "Um..."

"And did you think that maybe Daddy might have told you not to touch the whisk because it was dangerous? What would have happened if your fingers got caught in it Sammy?" Gabe pressed now that he had gotten Sammy to think. 

"My fingers would'a got hurted" Sammy said, then the grumpiness faded from his face and stance as his Daddy's reasoning cut through his thoughts. "Oh…"

"Yeah. Oh. And if you had listened to Daddy, you wouldn't have made a big mess. And if you had listened to what Daddy said earlier, De's egg wouldn't have gotten broken either. 

"Oh." Sammy echoed himself again. The anger flooded from his system and sadness flooded in. He was realising now what his Daddy was saying. 

"So. I'm going to ask you again little man. Why were you put in time out?" Gabriel asked patiently. 

Quietly, and ducking his head to hid sheepishly behind his hair Sammy answered "'Coz I didn't listen to you Daddy."

Pressing his advantage, Gabriel asked "And what do you think you might need to do now Sammy?"

"Listen to you Daddy. And do what you say for me to do." Sammy felt really bad now. "I'm really sorry Daddy. Really sorry."

"That's ok buddy. And thank you for apologising. Just remember to mind Daddy please. Can we have a hug now?"

Sammy didn't even bother to reply and instead flung himself into his Daddy's arms. Now that Daddy had made it clear to him, he realised that he was wrong. It wasn't like before at all. Sammy felt awful, and he needed to just make that extra clear to his Daddy. "I'm sorry Daddy."

"Buddy, it's all ok. All is forgiven. You don't need to say sorry any more little dude" Gabriel reassured as he hugged his son close. 

"But I'm sorry Daddy" Sammy pleaded, needing to be believed. 

"I know Sammy, I know." Gabriel thought of a way that he might be able to make his son feel better. If he offered the boy a way to show how sorry he was. "I know. How about you show Daddy that you are sorry by helping him to tidy up the kitchen? Think that would work?"

"Yeah. I wanna do that Daddy. I wanna help Daddy."

"Ok then. That's a plan. Shall we get started?" Gabe added as he kissed his son's temple and gave one last comforting squeeze to the hug.

"Yeah!" Sammy said, his usual happiness shyly creeping its way back into his voice and demeanour. 

"Alright then" Gabriel said, and released his son from the hug and took hold of his hand to lead him back into the main space of the kitchen. 

Looking over and seeing that De was done with his juice and had now stuffed fingers back into his mouth, Gabriel took his son over to the baby, where he produced another pacifier for the quiet boy. 

"You want to come out of the highchair baby? You can help me and Sammy tidy up?" Gabriel offered. 

De gave his uncle a slight nod and raised his arms to be lifted out. De didn't want to do anything that would get him into trouble. So even though he kind of wanted to stay out of the way in his high chair, he would do anything to stop a grown up from being cross with him. 

Once the baby was free from the highchair, Gabriel looked about the room to figure out what they should tidy up first. Mess and clutter was everywhere. Settling on a plan he divulged it to the children. "How about you two go and make a start with putting away the pots and pans and I will start tidying up all these things over here?"

"Ok Daddy!" Sammy chimed and started to head off, but Gabriel called him back.

"Take your brother with you please!"

"Kay!" came the reply, and Sammy came back to grab hold of De's hand and began to tug the toddling baby over to the pans scattered about the floor. 

As soon as the boys reached the designated items, he scanned the room and took in the devastation that awaited him. He decided that a little bit of cheating wouldn't go amiss. With a wash of grace over the room, Gabriel cleared away all of the cake mix that covered everything, as well as the remnants of flour, sugar and egg that had dropped all over the place. He heard a faint giggle as the mess was lifted from his son, which prompted a smile to spread on his face and then he turned his attention towards tidying away some of the other equipment and washing up the items that needed it. 

Across the room, Sammy was encouraging De to begin putting the pans away in the cupboard. "Come on De! We need to get all of those in there. You get that one and I'll get this one!"

Giving a small suck on his pacifier, De bent to do as directed and picked up one of the pans. The motion caused it to knock into one of the pans next to it, causing a slight clang. Sammy's pots produced the same noise. De winced as the small noise reached his ears and whipped around to see what his uncle's reaction would be. 

Nothing happened.

Uncle Gabe didn't even glance in their direction. Still. De didn't want to take any chances. He resolved to be much more careful. 

So, moving very very slowly and carefully, De moved his pan and placed it in the cupboard. 

As Sammy clanged pots together and De accidently made some noise, De got more and more upset, though Uncle Gabe didn't appear to be paying any attention. It could just mean that he was waiting and would get super mad later. That happened with the John Dad sometimes though. 

De found himself getting more and more stressed until he just couldn't take it anymore and he plopped down onto his bottom and began to cry silently. He didn't know what to do!

Sammy, noticing that his brother seemed to have stopped helping, turned to ask what was going on. There were lots more pots to put away!

He took one look at his baby brother however, and instantly ran over and threw his arms around the boy and asked "What's the matter De? Why you cryin'?"

De didn't reply, but did grip on hard to his brother's arms, pulling him close.

Sammy didn't really know what to do, but wanted to be a big boy and make his little brother better so he tried the things he knew that his Daddy and De's Daddy asked when De was crying. "You need a change De? I can go get you a bottle maybe?"

De just shook his head at every suggestion Sammy made, and Sammy was getting worried. De usually made lots of noise when he cried, but now he wasn't and Sammy couldn't make it better! He didn't like it! Maybe De just needed cuddles though. Daddy said that De needed that sometimes. De definitely got lots and lots of hugs from Uncle Cas so that was probably it. As Sammy began to sit down, he knocked a few pots which made them bang. Sammy giggled 'coz he thought it was a funny sound, but suddenly De flinched in his arms. 

"De?" he asked, and saw that De was looking around him at Daddy. De looked really scared too! Why would De be scared of Daddy? De loved Sammy's Daddy! Sammy definitely needed to find out what was going on. 

"De?" he asked again, "You scared of my Daddy?"

De looked straight at Sammy and after a hiccup he managed to make a "shhhhh" sound, though it was a but muffled by the fact that he still had a pacifier. De didn't want Sammy to get into trouble, so to make sure that Sammy knew, he pointed at Uncle Gabe to show Sammy that they had to be quiet so they didn't make the angel mad. 

Sammy, well versed in all things Dean - be they big or little - of course immediately understood what his brother was trying to tell him. De thought the had to be quiet? He thought Daddy would get cross if they made noise? Well that was just silly! 

Sammy smiled though because now he knew what to do to make De better and get his baby brother to stop crying. 

The little boy bent down to whisper into his brother's ear "Don't worry De. I'll make it all better", then he turned around and shouted "Daddy! De needs you!", ignoring his brother's frantic hands grabbing at him and the quiet protests of "Ah! Ah!"

"What's up Sammy? You're brother ok?" Gabriel asked as he made his way over to the two boys. Examining them closely, he could see that De was crying again, and that Sammy was evidently trying to comfort him as he had his arms wrapped around the younger boy. 

"No. Daddy, De's scared that you're all cross 'coz we was makin' noise. Tell him that's silly!" Sammy demanded, expecting his Daddy to make things better. 

De, hearing Sammy spill his secrets buried his face in his hands to hide from Uncle Gabe. He didn't want to see the disappointment on the man's face. More tears trickled down his face as he sobbed quietly. Now everything was ruined!

He was surprised however when instead of being shouted at, he was being scooped up carefully to rest on what he recognised as the angel's lap. Gentle fingers wiped at his face as his hands were pried away and he heard his uncle say "Oh De. I'm not cross sweetheart. I don't mind if you make noise baby. In fact I expect you and your brother to make noise when you play. Why would I get cross with you for that?"

De had to look incredulously at his uncle for that. What?! But he got cross earlier? De flung an arm out to wave over the remaining pans scattered on the floor, attempting to ask a silent question. 

Gabriel watched confused as De appeared to be trying to tell him something, but he couldn't figure out what. He looked over the pans and thought carefully, but then the events of the day washed over him. 

"Oh baby. Is this because I shouted earlier?" he asked softly, bending his head to try and peer into his nephew's face. He couldn't quite get a good look, but he felt the boy's breath hitch in a sob and saw the decisive nod that served as an answer. 

"Sweetheart, I wasn't cross at you! I shouted because I was stressed out and it was a lot of noise, but I wasn't cross with you. I just needed it to be a little quieter, but I didn’t want you to stop making noise altogether. I'm so sorry baby. I didn’t mean to scare you."

De listened closely as his uncle apologised to him and felt the man begin to rub soothing circles on his back. 

Uncle Gabe wasn't cross? He didn't want De to be quiet? He was saying sorry? No one ever said sorry! This was very confusing. He cried his emotions out some more, but did slump to let his body come to rest on his uncle. He was very tired now. 

Gabriel continued to apologise and say sorry to De, and continued his repetitions until he could feel that the baby was resting against him comfortably and had stopped crying. De appeared to be less scared now, and was seeking comfort again - as evidenced by the hand that had wrapped itself to cling in his shirt. 

He was beating himself up. He knew how sensitive De was, but one careless shout had caused this reaction. He cautioned himself to make this up to De and to be more mindful of his tone around the baby. He would also have to mention the reaction to Cas when he got home. They would need to deal with the issues this event had inevitably brought forth in the baby. 

He was distracted from his internal musings however by a hand tugging on his leg. Looking over, he saw Sammy watching him with earnest eyes. "What's up Sammy?"

"Is my De ok now Daddy?" Sammy asked whisperingly. 

"I think so buddy. I think he's ok" he replied, once again trying to peer into the baby's face, but found it difficult as the boy appeared to be nuzzling his face into his chest.

"That's good. I don't like it when my brother's upset" Sammy said.

"None of us do buddy. But thank you for getting me to come and help. That was the best thing to do. You are very good at looking after your baby brother" Gabe praised, watching as his words caused a huge smile to spread across his son's face. 

Letting a moment of quiet settle over them, Gabriel then spoke up. "I think maybe all of us need a little bit of cheering up. How about we go and decorate those cupcakes?"  
As Sammy cheered loudly and raced off to find the toppings and De whipped his head around to watch the movement and began to hum happily, Gabriel wondered if he was just beginning the cycle of events all over again. 

Then he decided he just didn't care. Getting to his feet and hoisting De up onto his hip he called out "Sammy! Put the sprinkles down!"


End file.
